Lee Teck Him
Singapore
“Sir, let me make my points clear. The Minister for Defence said he did not understand what I said just now. He said it was futile to fire crackers. However, in the past whenever the Prime Minister toured the constituencies and the Ministers went to the rural areas, they were welcomed by the people there by the firing of crackers.”
“This is really a shameful sight for tourists to see. Yet we talk about making Singapore a garden city. The Minister should immediately remove this awful sight if we are going to make Singapore a garden city. He should go and see for himself the places where the hawkers' situation is unsightly.”
“The Communists will consider this defence exercise as aiming at committing aggression against some other countries. Why should we have this five-nation joint defence pact? Britain and Australia will ask us to be the vanguard and they will just queue up behind. Therefore, we will be the first to be killed.”
“Driving testers should also inform them, during the test, that when they are about to negotiate a corner and they cannot see anything in front, they should not speed and they should not overtake the vehicles in front. They should pass all these tests before licences are issued to them.”
“A gangster's application should also be approved. Even many of the C.I.D. staff are former gangsters. There are many precedents of people with many wives. How can you deny them citizenship because they have many wives? You should also approve their applications.”
“Sir, I want to ask a supplementary question and also give my comments on the Government's policy on citizenship. The policy should be reviewed, and, where possible, citizenship should be granted straightaway without the Criminal Investigation Department investigating to see how many wives an applicant has and so on.”
The complete record
Every one of 125 lines we hold for Lee Teck Him, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 2 of 3.
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I would like to say something on this subhead. We are aware that flooding is a serious problem in the Bukit Timah area and in my constituency. The people in these areas have suffered great hardship. Sometimes they are unable to sleep at night because they fear that they might be caught unawares by flooding. There fore, I urge the Minister to provide funds for flood alleviation schemes and to instruct the Public Works Department to redouble their efforts. The P.W.D. should either raise the road level or deepen the drains in order to alleviate flooding. In particular, the monsoon drains in the Bukit Timah Road and Holland Road areas should be deepened. Only then will the people in my constituency be safe from flooding. Sir, our country is said to be well known for its wide and clean roads. But in the Bukit Timah area, flooding takes place quite often. Malaysians coming down from West Malaysia are inconvenienced because they make frequent use of Bukit Timah Road. Our Minister also goes that way quite often because he lives in my constituency. I am sure he knows the situation quite well. I therefore urge him to pay attention to this problem.”
“Sir, in my view, the transfer of community centre leaders should be a matter of consultation between the Members of Parliament and the People's Association, because Members of Parliament are in close contact with the Director and Assistant Directors of the People's Association. Therefore, I have a suggestion to make on the organisation and administration of the People's Association. I think these functions should be handed over to the Ministry of Culture because, in my view, the Ministry of Culture is not given enough work.”
“Sir, this head concerns the People's Association and I wish to supplement what has already been said. The People's Association was established in 1960 and has since done a great job. However, in so far as administration is concerned, there are certain shortcomings. For example, when the leaders of community centres are to be transferred, Members of Parliament of the respective centres are not informed where they will be transferred to. This is very unfair to Members of Parliament because they are advisers to the community centres and advice should be sought from them before such transfers are made. The temporary Chairman (Mr Lim Cheng Lock): Order. Mr Lee, these remarks would have been more relevant when this topic was debated in the Main Estimates. We are now on the Development Estimates.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, the Minister has said that part of the Defence Fund will be used for a weapons factory. This is a laughing matter. Will the fund be sufficient for the setting up of an armaments factory? I feel that we have not achieved very much with the Defence Fund. I suggest that we should form a National Defence Voluntary Fund on a permanent basis so that it is open all the time to anyone to make a donation. In this way, we can achieve better results with it than with the present Defence Fund. The donations to the Defence Fund are dwindling. So we must encourage the rich people to donate to the National Defence Volun tary Fund. I am raising this point now because I did not have sufficient time to do so previously. I now crave your indulgence, Mr Speaker, Sir, to say this. The National Defence Voluntary Fund Committee should try to encourage everyone to donate. It can issue a kind of plaque or a certificate to the donor of a certain amount of money to commemorate his donation and spirit of dedication. 4.00 p.m. I remember when the Japanese attacked Singapore during the last war, we had donations from the public. Today we must ask all rich people to contribute to this new Defence Fund. If they do not do so, they will suffer the same fate as they did the last time when the Japanese came, when their wives, money, houses and other property were taken over. The Government should now try to get donations from people other than the poor. Mr Teong Eng Siong rose -”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I wish to say something different. This concerns the dresses of our women. The mini-skirts they are wearing are too short. It seems to me that they are competing with one another to see who wears the shortest mini-skirts. The day might come when the mini-skirts will be so short that there will be nothing left! The Minister for Culture must look into this because our society is becoming too "progressive". He should think of a way to improve women's dresses so that our country looks civilised. Mr Teong Eng Siong rose -”
“The Minister has said that I should have reported the matter to him. I feel that is not as good as when I make a report to this House because the people will learn about it.”
“I dare say that our Government will be toppled as a result of the attitude of such Government servants. Therefore, I hope the Minister will investigate the matter and see what kind of a person that officer is. [Mr Speaker in the Chair] 4.08 p.m.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I wish to touch on one subject. The Member for Paya Lebar has said that the policemen are proud but I do not agree with him. As far as I am aware, they are not arrogant at all. Some officers in charge of police stations are good, but others are not so. For example, last Saturday at 1.00 p.m, a resident of my constituency came to me and said that four of his sons had been arrested by the police. Their ages were 27, 25, 21 and 17 years. The youngest child was still schooling. I therefore went with the father to the police station. The officer in charge, Mr Chin, was out at the time. It was about 3.00 p.m., or 4.00 p.m. I did not know that the 'four sons had been arrested by Mr Chin. He was 'arrogant. I do not know why. I cannot say whether he recognised me or not. His colleagues introduced -me to him' as the Member for Ulu Pandan. His manners were very, very arrogant indeed. He did not even smile. He treated me as if I were a culprit. This attitude on the part of such a high-ranking officer is meaningless. Even a Superintendent of Police does not behave like this. What is the use of employing such an officer who ill-treats the people? He arrested the four brothers with the use of force. He threatened the youngest boy with a gun and knife to answer his question, "Tell me whether you have associated with bad people." I-Ic made it look as if he was going to shoot the boy. This is very bad. I-low can such a thing be done? A police station is not a court. If the boy did not commit any offence, he should have been released. He should not have been threatened with a gun. Ours is a democratic country. Such a Government servant is described by the Chinese as despotic and dictatorial. Police officers who are impolite to Members of Parliament are bad.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, who is responsible for this mistake? The former Minister for Health said that a new market would be built in the 5th mile area of Holland Road. That was long ago. Perhaps the present Minister for Health is not aware of it. I will write a formal letter to the Minister for Health inviting him to visit the area to see for himself whether a market is urgently required there.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, the Parliamentary Secretary has not given the correct answers to the questions I have raised. I was saying that we should not force a tenant to move out if he is unable to buy the flat he is occupying. I was not talking about tenants buying their own houses.”
“Sir, I merely want to say that the action taken should depend on the merits of individual cases and should also take into account the financial condition of the tenants. The regulations should also be amended and harsh action should not be taken to force the tenants to move out. For instance, the Board ask a tenant to buy a flat at Toa Payoh Housing Estate and he says he is not able to buy it. Then the Board ask him to buy a flat in another estate and he is also unable to buy it. Then the Board kicks him here and there. This will cause inconvenience to the tenant. Does the Parliamentary Secretary not agree that as we are a democratic country we should not therefore adopt an imperialistic attitude?”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, in my opinion, there should be changes in the Board's regulations. For instance, when a family is starving, how do you expect it to pay the rent?”
“Sir, a few moments ago, the Minister for Health moved the Second Reading of a Bill which is fascist in character. This is not correct because ours is a democratic country. The "Keep Singapore Clean" campaign was started about a month ago and overnight Singapore looked different. Why should there be a need for such a Bill now? Singapore was already clean enough before this Bill was brought up. We must use persuasion on the people to cultivate the habit of cleanliness. We must not impose heavy penalties to force them to do so. We can hold competitions in cleanliness among them and encourage them to adopt clean habits. They have been making progress without the imposition of harsh laws. A committee comprising representatives of hawkers, market stallholders and flat-dwellers - in fact, representatives of people from all walks of life - should be set up to look after public health. We do not have to resort to harsh laws being rushed through this Parliament to promote public health. In my opinion, this ~ not a proper way of going about it.”
“The Ministry of Education is now actively considering this matter but there are technical problems which cannot be solved overnight. Therefore, we require some more time to consider this matter and I do not think this is the proper time to make a decision yet. We will give an answer when the time comes. The Member for Ulu Pandan asked what will become of the increasing number of students if fewer schools are being built. I do not think this problem is very serious because of our success in family planning, and therefore our population growth will be less. For example, the enrolment of Primary I students has decreased this year compared with last year. On the question of contributions by the public to the building of schools, the Ministry of Education will give them all the necessary help and facilities for this purpose.”
“Sir, on the question of text-books, I have to point out that at the present moment, before the changes are implemented, many schools, particularly the Chinese schools, are using English textbooks in Science and Mathematics. So there is no problem about text-books. I now come to the points raised by the Member for Sembawang. The point concerning technical teachers has already been covered by me when I answered the Member for Jurong. On the question of redundancy of teachers, the Minister for Education has made it very clear that those who are dedicated and can carry out their responsibilities properly will be given special consideration when the question of redundancy arises. Those who are not dedicated teachers may be affected by the redundancy exercise, As for the decreasing number of students in aided schools, resulting in transfers of teachers, I think the transfers are based on the subjects the teachers are capable of teaching. The principle of "last come, first go" is not strictly adhered to because of the need for subject teachers. If the Member for Sembawang has got any special cases in mind, he can give me further details and I will look into the matter. I now come to the point raised by the Member for Joo Chiat about half-day classes on Saturdays. Not very long ago Chinese schools had a six-day week. Now, the attendance on Saturdays is required for extramural activities or if there are special circumstances where the principal or the teacher is of the view that special classes are necessary on Saturdays. In this way the burden will not fall mainly on the parents because it is better for the students to attend school rather than roam about the streets. Two Members have raised the question of abolishing the Senior Cambridge Examination.”
“Sir, as regards the changes to be introduced in Secondary I and II, we have given consideration to students who are talented in the fine arts. If students are considered to be talented in the fine arts, they will be exempted from attending three hours per week workshop practice, provided that the teachers are satisfied that the students are gifted in the fine arts. Reference has been made to the speech of the Minister for Education on the 12th of this month regarding the compulsory attendance of girl students at domestic science classes. Only 50 per cent of the girl students will be affected. I have already said that we need only 800 teachers for technical education. This is only four per cent of the 20,000 teacher population. Therefore, there will be no repercussions. The number of technical teachers re quired for the secondary schools is small because we are not fully implementing the changes at the same time. 5.15 p.m. On the question of school inspection, I am of the view that principals should have some authority in the methods of teaching. I think they are competent to do this job, because they have been teachers themselves in the past. If there are cases where the work of the principals is slipshod and if further details are supplied, we will investigate. In his speech earlier the Minister for Education has already made clear the Government's policy on the teaching of the second language. The Ministry of Education is now getting ready to prepare for a two to three-year period of special training in order to enable teachers in the non-English language streams to make the change.”
“On the question of technical education, he says that we must keep close contact with the commercial and industrial sectors, In fact, this is what we are doing. At the present moment, we are in the process of setting up an advisory committee on technical and vocational education to consider all the related problems. As regards the social and cultural aspects of education, the Member for Jurong should not worry because a change in emphasis does not alter the principle of education, We only wish to convert one- third of our students to technical education. The main point in our reform is that our secondary students will have at least eight years of general education in which they must have learnt enough about culture, language, literature, art and some technical subjects. The principle of education is not affected by our emphasis on technical education. Sir, several Members have raised the question of shortage of technical teachers, According to our Estimates, when the changes are completed by 1970, we require 700 to 800 technical teachers to teach Secondary I and II students, At the present moment, we have about 300 teachers undergoing training. Next year, we propose to introduce the change at Secondary I only. Therefore, we need only half the number of teachers required. So there is no question of any shortage of teachers. As regards part-time courses for teachers, in my view, this is not a serious problem because the teachers can still cope with the training done on a part-time basis. All along, trainee teachers have been attending lectures on a part-time basis. Yet they have been able to cope with the teaching load as well as extracurricular activities. At the present moment, we have about 80 teachers undergoing full-time training in technical education.”
“Sir,I support the statement of the Member for Jurong when he asked for the abolition of the Senior Cambridge School Certificate Examination and its replacement by our locally-conducted examination. As we are now indepen dent, we should not rely on other countries to conduct examinations for us. Otherwise, what about the Chinese School Certificate Examination? Do we have to rely on Peking for this? If we do not, then we do not have to depend on England to conduct the School Certificate Examination. The second point concerns our education policy. I have been told that the number of schools to be built next year will be reduced. If less schools are to be built next year, where are we going to accommodate the new students? In my view, we should build more schools next year because the student population is increasing. Actually we have planned to build 17 schools every year - 12 primary schools and five secondary schools. Are we changing this policy? I am of the opinion that the Minister for Education should instruct the big civic organisations like the huay kuan to start their school building fund campaign. Government should also allot state land to these organisations for the building of schools. For example, we can build more schools in Anson con stituency as there are vacant pieces of land there. The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Education (Dr Lee Chiaw Meng)(In Mandarin): Mr Speaker, Sir, first, I must thank the various Members for their appreciation of the education policy of the Government as well as their appreciation of the problems that we are facing. I wish to deal first with the points raised by the Member for Jurong.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, the Parliamentary Secretary said that more money will be needed if we are to recruit more staff. How much money do we need? I think it will not be a very large sum. It is a small matter if applications for citizen ship are not granted, but replies to the applications should be given. Many applications were submitted but no replies were given to applicants. These people have approached their Members of Parliament and, on inquiry, the answer given was "Refused". As a result, Members of Parliament get the blame. If an application for citizenship is rejected, there must at least be the courtesy of a reply to that effect, and the reason given for its rejection. This is the way it should be done, The applicants have been waiting for two, three or five years but all their applications were just put aside. On one occasion I saw one Mr Teo Kiak Seng and he told me, "Mr Lee, you cannot expect your citizenship to be granted in one year. Some people applied for citizenship in 1963 and ,we have had no time to study their applica tions because of the lack of staff, if you do not believe me, the Minister can investigate the matter." If it is because of lack of staff, then we must do something about it. The Minister alone will not be blamed but the Government will be blamed.”
“Sir, on the question of citizenship, I feel that very often we have let down the applicants, if a person fails to get citizenship, he will come across many difficulties through no fault of his own. It is not that he is lazy that his applica tion is not approved. I think we are excessively strict in considering applications for citizenship and, because of this, we cause delays. In my view, as there are a large number of applications, we must increase the staff of the Registry of Citizenship. We should also invite the Minister for Labour to see whether the staff at the Registry is working hard or not. This is my request and I hope sympathy will be given to applicants.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I wish to make a point of clarification. The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs said that I was accusing him of going to the Right. I never said such a thing at all. Madam Chan Choy Siong (Delta): Sir, I am quite satisfied with the reply given by the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. The sum of $10,829,380 for Head 0501 ordered to stand part of the Estimates. Head 0601 -”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, a point of clarification. Just now the Minister of State said that I was against the defence policy. That is not so. I wanted to say something on it the other day, but time was up and I was not allowed to speak. The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs said that I was against our Government's. defence policy, but in fact I am 100 per cent for it. I did not, however, have the opportunity to speak my mind. What I am against is that our foreign policy is. not neutral enough. The Chairman: Order. Mr Lee, I do not think it right to say you were not allowed to speak on Friday. At no time were you asked to curtail your speech. There was no question of your having been rushed.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, the Member for Crawford has said just now that our foreign policy has always been one of nonalignment. Our Minister for Foreign Affairs has announced publicly that we do not want to be included in any power bloc. But my view is different. Our boat is now on the high seas and if we do not follow a fixed course going by the compass, we may run into rocks and sink. I hope that our foreign policy will continue to be based upon the principle of non-alignment. In this way we will avoid many troubles.”
“Perhaps the Member concerned can give particulars to the Minister for National Development who will no doubt look into the matter. On the Member for Crawford's idea of increasing facilities at the Political Study Centre, of course, the Government is always alive to the demands. I have no doubt that if the demands justify the extension of facilities, such extension would be made. Madam Chan Choy Siong(In Mandarin): I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.”
“That is right, Sir,I quite understand you. But he said I did not report and therefore I was not doing my duty. But I am reporting to Parliament. Am I right? Mr Tang See Chim: Mr Speaker, Sir, to answer the Member for Delta and the Member for Crawford. Owing to the limited time and staff available, the Political Study Centre had been concentrating on Divisions I and II officers first where the greatest impact can be made. Although it was not possible to give such training to Division III officers generally, the Political Study Centre did conduct courses of lectures at the Police Training School, the Teachers' Training College and the Nurses' Training School. Where the problem was acute, a special course would be arranged, as in the case of the P.U.B. meter readers. The Government is aware of the situation that civil servants should understand and be alive to the situation obtaining in the country. They are given training in the constitutional structure of the country and in political ideologies as opposed to party political ideas. On the general example quoted by the Member for Delta regarding resettlement officers going down to the rural areas and being scolded as puppets of the P.A.P., the officer concerned should know what he is doing. We cannot, of course, train him in party political ideas. What we can train him in is the general political set-up of the country -- the constitutional structure. All civil servants have a knowledge, or at least they should have, of their place in the political set-up. Simply because they have been scolded by somebody in the rural area, they should not give up doing what they are there to do. This is, of course, a very general sort of example.”
“The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance has said just now that I did not make a report of such an incident. I am reporting to Parliament now. This is the best opportunity so that even Mr Speaker himself”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I would like to add something more to what the Member for Delta has said. We know that the civil servants are not always wrong. The Minister is always wrong. There are various sections in the Ministry of National Development which carry out their official duties very harshly. They force people to move away from their homes. Who is responsible for this? It is the Minister who is responsible. Ours is a democratic country and it is no longer under colonial rule. If settlers do not want to move from a site, we should try persuasion. We should not chop down their houses. We should not send out teams of people to drive the occupiers out. Also, some civil servants who are sent out to the rural areas steal rambutans. Does the Minister know about this? He certainly does not. If anything is amiss, it is the responsibility of the Minister. He should look into the matter and come up with an explanation.”
“If they do not get up and support the Bill, we can understand it. The Member for Anson wants me to reconsider and make Thaipusam a public holiday. Like the Member himself, I myself would prefer Thaipusam to be a holiday! Like the Member for Delta, I myself would like a women's holiday! An hon. Member: What about a Children's Day?”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, the Member for Delta has said that there should be a day set aside to enable the women of Singapore to take time off their kitchens. I support this a hundred per cent. There are 58 Members in this House but there is only one woman Member. What is the reason for this great disparity in numbers? This is because there is no Women's Day for women and they cannot come out of their kitchen to serve the nation. There must be a Women's Day so as to encourage women to take part in national affairs and so that there will be more women Members of Parliament. I fully support the proposition by the Member for Delta. Mr Barker: Mr Speaker, Sir, I would like to thank the five Members who rose to speak in support of the Bill. I am sure the other Members who have not spoken would have spoken to support the Bill had we not been running out of time. As you can see, it is easy to add on holidays - whether it be Thaipusam, Women's Day or Men's Day - because that pleases everybody. But the moment you cut down on holidays, then people get sad. It is my unpleasant duty tonight - in fact, one of my most unpleasant duties in Parliament today - to move the passage of this Bill. As you can see, Mr Speaker, Sir, you yourself called the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Social Affairs, thinking that the Holidays Bill was within the portfolio of the Ministry of Social Affairs. I can assure this House that the subject of holidays does not come within the portfolio of the Ministry of Law. Neither does it come under the Ministry of National Development. But somehow I am here today moving something which has got nothing to do with any of my Ministries. But as I said just now, if you take something away, people get sad.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, a few moments ago, the Minister said that the Central Provident Fund (Amendment) Bill was to be introduced in the interest of the workers. He also stated that there will be 1½ per cent increase in the amount of contributions and that there will be provision to enable members of the Central Provident Fund to utilise money in credit with the Fund to buy flats. In my view, this may not be quite correct. The most important factor is whether or not the products of our factories are cheap and of good quality. It is only under these circumstances that we can compete in the international market. If the products of our factories are not of good quality and are expensive, how can the workers be expected to contribute 1½ per cent more to the Central Provident Fund? The factories will not be able to sell their goods. They may even have to close down. Therefore, in my view this is not a very practical solution. Contributions to the Central Provident Fund should be reduced so that the cost of production to employees may be reduced and our goods will be more competitive in the international market. If there are more factories, there will be more jobs created. I am afraid that if workers spend their money and their rate of contribution to the Central Provident Fund is increased, many factories will not be able to keep down the cost of production. As a result, they may have to close down and unemployment will increase. 5.35 p.m.”
“Sir, the Minister for Finance yesterday dealt with the recommendations of the Salaries Commission in respect of the increase in salaries of Division I and Superscale posts. In my view, these Superscale officers already have enough to live well and Government should more properly look after the interest of the lower-income groups. In the case of the latter, there should be some increase in salary. This is only right and proper because we in Singapore practise parliamentary democracy. We must respect these people who are not so well off. Those officers who are getting $2,000 or $3,000 a month already have enough. Many people sleep by the roadside and many do not have enough to eat. How can these top civil servants ask for more pay? We Members of Parliament get only $500 a month each and we have to contribute to the party funds. How can we live on this small pay? Of course, I too want to ask for a pay rise and hope that the Minister will be sympathetic.”
“Even if they have to live on water, they have to pay 20 cents a gallon for it. So this is a very important factor to consider in the context of our society. Clause 15 affects not only individuals but also the families of the persons affected. The third point is that at the present moment, the Government has already stated that the citizens of Singapore will in future be able to get the benefit of pensions or their Central Provident Fund contributions to buy Housing Board flats. This is , of course, very encouraging to the workers. But if a worker should retire at 55 and live on his C.P.F. contributions or pension, he will have no funds left to pay for his house or flat. For example, if I begin to pay instalments on a flat at the age of 45 and continue paying for it for 15 years, and if I retire at 55, then I have only 10 years of working life. How am I going to pay the instalments on my flat after my retirement at 55? This is another factor that we should consider. In view of all this, I think the Government should accept our views. The Parliamentary Secretary of the Minister for Labour(Mr Sia Kah Hui): Mr Speaker, sir, just to correct a mis-statement of fact. I think a gallon of water does not cost 20 cents! An hon. Member: Hear, hear!”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, in my view, 55 years is not an old age to retire from work. I support the Member for Bukit Ho Swee for proposing the deletion of this clause. Madam Chan Choy Siong (Delta)(In Mandarin): Sir, when I spoke on the Second Reading of the Bill, I said that there are certain clauses which require amendment. For example, I consider this amendment moved by the Member for Bukit Ho Swee is one of the most important amendments, and I give him my full support on the following grounds. Although the Government has already taken a long time to consider this provision in the interest of our nation and in view of the difficulties ahead of us, we are trying to solve this problem legally. In my view, if this clause is passed, I do not think the Government will get any good results because there are certain problems on the question of age which require careful consideration. Firstly, at the age of 55, a person is still full of energy. In European countries, this is the age at which people begin to get prosperous. The second point is that in Singapore, there is a law to retire employees, especially Government servants, at 55 compulsorily. After retirement, many of these Government pensioners go into the private sector for employment. If we pass this clause, these pensioners will not be able to enter the private sector for further employment. In some cases, these people got married at a rather old age and their children are too young to take over the responsibilities of looking after the family. So if workers are asked to retire at the age of 55, at a time when their children are not able to shoulder the responsibilities of the family, then what will happen to the family? We do not expect them to live on water.”
“In my view, the provision restricting the payment of bonus should be deleted from the Bill.”
“He can even be at the forefront of our economic activities. This is a very important year in his life. He has got all the experience of his life when he reaches 55. He is cultured and at the prime of his life. The young people may still be suckling and without any experience to take over from the old-timers. I am in full support of young people working, but we must not allow them to take over everything. Due respect must be given to old people. They must be well looked after. I think I am the oldest Member in this House and I must speak my mind on this clause. I am representing many people in my age group. I hope the Minister will review clause 15 and take steps to delete it. Whether a person retires or not at 55 should depend on his performance and not on his age. If he has the ability to work, then he should be allowed to continue to do so. In fact, many people occupying top positions in organisations and in Government service are old people. There are some old people who are Presidents and Prime Ministers. It does not mean that when one is 55 he is incapable of doing anything. Mr Speaker, on the provision of payment of bonus, we should realise that people employed in Chinese firms draw a very low salary. They get a bonus only at the end of the year. This is utilised for extra expenditure on their family. It enables them to buy new shoes and new clothes and defray other expenses so that they can enjoy a happy New Year. So if the bonus is denied to the workers, how do we expect them to go through the New Year? Their salary is very low and they have no savings for the New Year festival. Where can they get the money to pay for their New Year expenses? They have to depend on the bonus.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I am strongly against the provision in the Employment Bill which stipulates that a person shall retire at the age of 55. We all know the Chinese saying, "At thirty, one is quite young, and one enters middle age at 40 and 50." So with this provision in the Bill, a person will have to retire compulsorily on reaching the age of 55. He will be put in cold storage. That will mean that he will be frozen and starved to death. When a person is 55 years old, it does not mean that he is senile. I am 63 years old. When I was 55 I was elected a Member of this House. I have been in this House all this while and I do not admit that I am old. Mr Speaker, Sir, when Dr Lee Siew Choh of the Barisan Sosialis was in this Chamber, he shivered whenever he stood up to speak because he could not stand the air-conditioning here. As you can see, I am not clad in any cardigan or overcoat. There was one Parliamentary sitting which lasted up till midnight and the Chamber was extremely cold. I was still wearing my ordinary shirt and I did not shiver. If you order a person to retire at 55 years of age, it is too arbitrary and very unreasonable. We know that most Chinese people work for a living without the benefit of a pension. If these people are forced to retire at 55, whom do we expect to maintain their children? Can we refer them to the Social Welfare Department? Moreover, the Social Welfare Department pays public assistance out of public funds. This would mean that you are putting out of operation people who are still economically active and maintaining them at public expense. This is not fair. In my view, this clause should be deleted from the Bill. As I have said earlier, at 55 a person is still strong enough to work.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I also wish to express my support for this Bill, especially the provisions to establish the Tenants' Compensation Board and the payment of compensation to tenants before recovery of controlled premises. This Bill should have been introduced earlier. It is introduced only today but I feel that it is still not too late yet. Past experience shows that many people wanting to recover their property and premises exercised stringency in the amount of compensation to be paid. Thus, tenants normally refused to accept such compensation. They demanded more compensation and the owners refused to give in to their demands. In the end, it usually resulted in fights and court cases. Therefore, I would say that the Minister is judicious in introducing certain provisions in the Bill which will benefit many of our people and which will solve many of our housing and development problems. In my opinion, many of our streets have to be extended and many dilapidated houses should give way to development in order to modernise our city. This Bill will enable this to be done, so I must support it. 4.31 p.m.”
“It should be cut down to one year so that these graduates can come out into society and do more work for our country. Mr Speaker, we must also pay attention to the setting up of a marine college or institute. The Prime Minister has already said that we are going to embark upon deep-sea fishing. But without trained marine personnel we will not be able to implement our scheme in deep-sea fishing. If we have a marine institute, we cannot only train enough personnel for our own use but we may also be able to train some of them as captains and masters to serve on foreign ships as well. Talking about industrialisation, do we have a big steel mill? We must set up one. We must welcome investments in this mill, something like $200,000. We must also have proper planning to run it properly. Furthermore, we should also try to improve our foreign trade so that we can sell our local, products. We should hold trade expositions at least twice a year. We must seek international markets for our products, otherwise our factories will close down. I urge the Minister to note what I have said on this point. 3.41 p.m.”
“We should set up more markets to accommodate more hawkers. If we do not have enough money to set up more markets, then we can get the people to invest in the building of markets. I believe there are many rich people in our country and they should be invited to invest in the construction of markets. They can set up limited companies. I believe we require at least 200 markets. I do not know how many markets we have. Can I ask the Parliamentary Secretary? We have less than .20 markets now, I understand. We must have at least. 200 markets. This is very important. If we do not have enough markets, then we have to worry about the hawkers' problem. I am the adviser to the Hawkers' Association and I am in close contact with them. I am fully aware of their problems. We want our State to, be clean, but without an ade quate number of markets we are bound to have hawkers in the streets. Because of these hawkers, we will not be able to keep the streets clean. So the authorities will arrest them and cancel their licences. So we must provide an outlet for hawkers to operate. Give them the markets and they will not come to the streets. If we try to keep them out of the streets and do not give them alternative accommodation, it is not fair. If we build more markets to accommodate them, our streets will be clean. There will be less traffic congestion. It is a pity that the Minister for Communications is not here. On national service, Mr Speaker, the graduates of the universities and the colleges should have their period of national service reduced by one year, so that they will be able to contribute more to our nation-building after their graduation. We should not keep them in the army too long at the expense of their parents. I think two years' national service is too long.”
“All students should be posted to schools nearer their homes. This is the policy we should be implementing. There should be no mistake about this. But there have been so many wrong postings. This is very exasperating to the parents concerned. I wonder if the Minister for Education is aware of all this. If the principle of posting students nearer to their homes is adopted, then the parents will not be exasperated. As regards secondary school-leavers, there are many of them who are unable to find places in the upper secondary classes. They and their parents are very worried. They are so worried that they cry because their parents had hoped that they would be able to further their education. Although the points they got in the School Certificate Examination exceeded 21, there is latent talent in them. Mr Speaker, Sir, some children develop their latent talent at a later stage. I shall deal with the question of money later on. We must think of these students who have failed to gain places in the upper secondary classes as well as their parents. If these students have to leave school half-way, it will be a very sad thing. I hope the Minister for Education will have more classes set up at the upper secondary level. If he has no more money, he can come to this House and try to get some more money. As regards health, I believe we should set up more markets in Singapore. I do not know whether the Minister for Health is around here. [Interruption].”
“They have to borrow it from finance companies to pay for the vehicles. So how can you confiscate their vehicles when they have not fully paid for them? For the time being, we must allow these pirate taxis to continue to operate as express taxis, so that although they are not allowed to pick up passengers at the bus stops they are allowed to discharge passengers at such places. In this way, pirate taxi operators will have a means of livelihood. Instead of Government confiscating their vehicles if they have committed any offences, they should be fined. The point is that they are self-employed people. They are also people with self-respect. Although they are poor, they do not go to the Social Welfare Department for assistance. They make their own living by operating a pirate taxi. So the Government should not confiscate their vehicles which are their means of employment. Mr Speaker, in my view, if the pirate taxi operators are arrested, they should be fined instead of having their vehicles confiscated, because they have to borrow money to pay for these vehicles. On the question of education, I hope the Minister for Education will pay attention to what I have to say. All the primary school-leavers should be posted to the secondary schools nearer their homes. If the students live to the north of the bridge in Chinatown, they should be posted to the schools in that area instead of to schools in Jalan Kayu, or Jalan Sungei or some other places. If a student in Chinatown is told to go to Jalan Hwi Yoh, then his posting is a blind posting. He should not be posted to a school so far away from his home. Many students in Tiong Bahru have complained to me about their wrong posting. I have written on their behalf for re-posting to schools in the Chinatown or Tiong Bahru area.”
“The regulations should be revised in such a way that first offenders would be warned and second offenders would be fined without being evicted from Board premises. The next point is the sale of flats. Those unable to buy flats under the home ownership scheme will be asked to move to Toa Payoh, and this will certainly cause hardship to them. Of course, the principle behind this scheme is good, but if people have no money to buy their own flats, it is not proper to evict them. The Minister must investigate such cases and find out whether this policy of evicting tenants because they cannot buy the flats they live in is in keeping with our democratic socialist principles. We must look after the interest of the poor people. We must not think too much of those people who have money. We must equally pay attention to those people without money. As regards transportation, all the bus companies should be nationalised. Then there will be an overall improvement in our public transportation. Unfortunately, the Minister for Communications is not here. Mr Speaker, Sir, you can see today that people are suffering great inconvenience because of the poor transport system. Every morning when I go to office, I see a lot of civil servants waiting for buses. This is a pathetic sight, because they have to waste a lot of time waiting for buses to take them to work. They are like so many ants, and like ants trapped in a frying pan, they suffer greatly. So because they cannot board the buses in time for work, they have to travel in pirate taxis. Before the bus companies are nationalised, we must allow the pirate taxis to Operate as express taxis. We must not consider pirate taxis as illegal and confiscate them. The operators of these vehicles have no money.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I express my support for the motion moved by the Prime Minister thanking the President for his speech. Sir, the P.A.P, won a complete victory at the recent general elections because the people supported us. Thus we shall once more do our best to serve the country. Although there is only one party in this Parliament, we are not dictators. Apart from the Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries, there are other Members in this House whose duty it is to make constructive criticisms of Government's measures and policies. First of all, I think some regulations relating to the Housing and Development Board of the Ministry of National Development should be changed because of certain incidents which have taken place. Recently, in the Tiong Bahru area, a coffee-shop owner committed suicide by jumping down from his flat because he had allowed his premises to be used as a gambling place. I suppose the regulations of the Housing and Development Board have been inherited from the previous administration, and not drafted by the P.A.P., and they have caused difficulties. I hope that these regulations will be amended to avoid difficulties. We all know that the present Government is going to introduce pools gambling in addition to the present Singapore Sweepstake, and yet the Government does not allow ordinary citizens to gamble in a small way in coffee-shops! Is this not a contradiction? On the one hand, the Government allows big sweeps to be run in Singapore and wants to introduce a new form of pools gambling, but, on the other hand, it prohibits the small man from gambling in a small way. I hope the Government will change these regulations and stop this unfair treatment.”
“Sir, I would like to say a few words on tontine organisations. These organisations originated out of some moral responsibility for friendly mutual aid. For instance, if I am short of $2,000 for business, I gather a few friends together and form a tontine organisation. The purpose is to help myself to run my business. But nowadays people are different. They make use of this sort of organisation to swallow up other people's deposits. Once the leader has collected the money, he runs away. So there should be a law to control tontine organisations. Originally, the purpose of tontine organisations was very good. It was for mutual assistance. But now it is different. Nowadays the morals of the people are quite different from what they were in ancient times. So in law, we should have some measures to prevent people from a breach of faith by running away with the money deposited by their friends.”
“Sir, I support the Finance Companies Bill. Why I support it is that in the past the law has loopholes. For example, not long ago there was an assurance company owned by a foreign investor. He earned a lot of money. Perhaps the people thought that he was from a financially strong country. Therefore, many people bought policies from him and he earned a lot of money. He requested the Government to allow him to remit his money back to his country. After investigations, the Government found that he had no capital invested. Why is it easy to do business without capital? It is because we have loopholes in our law. Therefore, we must revise and amend our law in order to deal with speculators. We know there are many finance companies in Singapore. There are as many finance companies as there are coffee-shops. Therefore, we should con trol them. We must take care and look into the matter. We know that the capital of finance companies varies. Some have large capital and others have less. But the business done exceeds the capital. Where is the security granted to the depositors? One day if the money is swallowed up by the company, who is to repay the depositors? Is it the Government? Therefore, I fully support the Bill introduced by the Finance Minister. However, we should refer it to a Select Committee in order to study it in greater detail. 5.49 p.m.”
“This would be creating a very bad effect and would be strangling the Government's own neck. If people want to come here and get married, you should allow them to get married. Why do you delay people's auspicious occasions? What state of affairs is this? You say the Government is good. Wherein lies the goodness of the Government? 7.45 p.m.”
“Sir, allow me to say a few words. It is really very difficult for people to apply for citizenship. I do go to the Registry of Citizenship and ask the officials why so and so has applied for citizenship for so long and the matter is not finalised yet. But the reply given is that it is a C.I.D. matter. Because of this, the leople hate the C.I.D. The investigations of the C.I.D. are entirely wrong and have adversely affected many people. As a result, applicants find it difficult to get citizenship. So the people turn round and hate the P.A.P. Government for its inefficiency. I suggest that if the C.I.D. is incapable of investigating the character of the applicants, then I think it is better to hand over these duties to the Citizens' Consultative Committee concerned so that within one week the committee will be able to finish off this work of investigation. Some people have been waiting for four or five years and yet the reply given is that the matter has not been investigated yet. This being the case, why should the C.I.D. earn their living? The people will only hate the P.A.P. Government. I suggest that if the C.I.D. or the immigration Department cannot carry out their duties, then they had better hand over the duties to the Citizens' Consultative Conimittee which will be able to finish off the job in less than a week. Also, those people from the Federation of Malaysia who do not have Singapore citizenship cannot come here to get married and cannot pay a visit to their parents. So the members of these families hate the P.A.P. Government. This state of affairs should be rectified. Facilities should be given to these people to make periodic visits here, say, two weeks or so. How can you disallow them to come here?”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, thank you for that, but allow me to speak a little while longer. The Minister has also said that health education is going on in the schools and elsewhere. We should educate the pupils to pay more attention to health matters. Campaigns should be carried out in the streets during their vacation terms. Health teams should go round the schools and streets to persuade people to abide by the health code and the correct code of conduct, and so on. Even a Minister should pick up any rubbish that he finds on the floor. I will also pick up any rubbish that I find on the floor. If everybody does this, then we will have a clean country. But we must first start with the hawkers. First, we must resolve their problems of livelihood and then we can take strict measures against them for any infringement of the health code. So the Minister should set up more markets for them - the more the merrier - in order to accommodate all of them. A lot of money has been allotted to the Ministry of Health. So I hope the Ministry of Health can do this.”
“The Minister for Health has said that he is paying a lot of attention to matters pertaining to health but that much of it depends on the co-operation of the public. This is correct. This year, the sum allocated to the Ministry of Health is quite substantial. I think more pasars should be built on a large scale to concentrate all the hawkers together, otherwise we will arrest them. We will first give them a warning; we will fine them the second time; and we will cancel their licences the third time. It is only by going about this in a strict way that we can make a success of our administration. But we cannot arrest them before the setting up of large markets to accommodate them, because they have also the responsibility of looking after ---”
“Mr Speaker, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for National Development has said just now that originally it was proposed to put up a roundabout at the junction. This was the proper thing to do. But instead he has now said that they will be using a traffic light control instead of a roundabout. In my view, setting up a traffic light control will be a laughing stock, because it does not meet the requirements of the people. In my opinion, there is an urgent need to set up a roundabout. OLD THOMSON ROAD (7½ TO 9 M.S.) AND SEMBAWANG ROAD(10 TO 11 M.S.) (Street lighting) 6. Mr Teong Eng Siong asked the Minister for Law and National Development whether there is any proposal to install street lighting along Old Thomson Road between 7½ m.s. and 9 m.s. and along Sembawang Road between 10 m.s. and 11 m.s., as street lighting could eliminate possible accidents at night along those stretches of roads which are dark and narrow.”